Field of Invention
Various exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a semiconductor device and a method of operating the same and, particularly, to a recovery operation of a semiconductor device.
Description of Related Art
Semiconductor devices may include a memory cell array for storing data. Memory cell arrays are composed of memory blocks and the memory blocks are composed of memory cells.
Non-volatile memory devices may retain data without loss over time based on their good data retention characteristics. However, data retention characteristics may deteriorate over time. As a result, non-volatile semiconductor devices may become unreliable over time.
In order to prevent reliability degradation caused by deterioration of data retention characteristics, a refresh operation may be performed on a memory block at predetermined time intervals. When a memory block has deteriorated beyond a predetermined level during a refresh operation, data of the deteriorated memory block may be moved to another memory block and the deteriorated memory block may be left as it is.